The SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk is however, still optimistic about the project's success, despite the recent setback.

According to Tech Times, the Falcon 9 faced a setback during the rocket stage landing recently. SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday, and it was carrying the Jason-3, according to Geek Wire.

Like Us on Facebook

Jason-3 is a weather satellite which is designed to monitor the rise of sea levels throughout the world. It basically uses the radar technology.

The space company was successfully able to get the satellite into its orbit. However, it failed to get its hands on the spacecraft's rocket after the launch was completed. The initial plan was to retrieve the rocket part safely after the land on a drone ship. This drone ship was set on a sail in the Pacific Ocean.

Things turned the other way when the Falcon 9 rocket was about to land on its designated platform. The camera which was put on the drone ship quickly froze. This left the SpaceX controllers momentarily unaware about the proceedings of the landing. However, it was later confirmed that the rocket could not land at all and the much-anticipated landing was instead a failure.

John Federspiel, who is the chief mechanical design engineer for SpaceX, said that one of the Falcon 9's landing legs may be damaged when the spacecraft was about to land on the drone ship.

He further pointed out that the rocket was not seen standing straight on the platform during its landing, which might confirm his fear of hardware error. He also said that this landing attempt can be easily understood if compared to that of a vault and a pencil over the Empire State building.

When guiding it back for landing on its eraser on the top of a floating platform, which is smaller than a shoe box, the pencil may tip over and never land.

The launch was SpaceX's third attempt to land the spacecraft on a drone ship, and the company is still looking forward to more attempts. Hopefully, they will get it right the next time.